Based on Research Conducted at OSLC
Research has documented a link between substance use and other types of aggressive behavior, such as bullying, aggression, and sexual harassment, yet there remains a dearth of knowledge regarding the extent to which substance use facilitates or amplifies patterns of teen dating aggression. This project leveraged data from an existing randomized clinical trial of The […]
Project Overview
Research has documented a link between substance use and other types of aggressive behavior, such as bullying, aggression, and sexual harassment, yet there remains a dearth of knowledge regarding the extent to which substance use facilitates or amplifies patterns of teen dating aggression. This project leveraged data from an existing randomized clinical trial of The Second Step anti-bullying and sexual violence prevention program, which was implemented when the sample of students was in middle school. Approximately 1,200 students from five high schools in Illinois (from 15 of the original 36 middle schools; approximately one third Hispanic, one fourth African-American) completed measures across the three-year study. The study aimed to determine whether receiving the Second Step intervention in middle school reduces youth aggression, sexual violence, and substance use, and teen dating violence when in high school; to evaluate Second Step program effects on trajectories of bullying, victimization, homophobic teasing, sexual harassment, and teen dating violence in high school; and to examine the relations among growth in aggression and substance use. Specifically, the study examined whether substance use moderates links in the Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway, and examined mediators of Second Step effects on reductions in aggression, bullying perpetration, victimization, sexual violence, dating violence and substance use.
Year Project Began: 2014Funder: National Institute of Justice
Formerly Affiliated Co-Investigator:
- Mark Van Ryzin, Ph.D.